The Big Lap - Darwin

 


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We were looking forward to coming back to Darwin.  Last time we were there was in 2009, see my 2009 Darwin page for more info on what to see and do here.  Because Darwin is such a transient city, the atmosphere is vibrant.  Most people that have been to Darwin rave about it. 

This time though we were smack bang in the middle of the build up season.  Just before the monsoon, the humidity builds up to an unbearable high.  It is hot and sticky.  The only way out is air-con or the pool.  Thank goodness we had both.  We stayed in the Discovery Caravan Park at Winnellie, about a 7 minute drive from Darwin. 




We thought it was strange that they had a bus stop inside the Caravan Park for Tours.


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We went to a couple of pubs that we visited last time, sorry no pics this time.  The Wisdom and Shananigans.  And we had to go on the Cape Adieu sunset dinner cruise again.  The food was just as good, being oysters, prawns, salad and steak for main.  However, I felt that this time there wasn’t the individual attention that we got last time, so a little disappointed with that.  The first two pics are complimentary off Cape Adieu as I forgot to take a photo of the yacht and food. 






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The Mindle Beach sunset markets are a must do when visiting Darwin.  There are plenty of food stores and usual market stalls.  I felt that a lot of them were way overpriced.  In hindsight, there are plenty more markets that are way better than Mindle.   Last couple of photos are of the beach in the day.






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We didn’t eat at the markets.  The smell of all the different cusines mixed with hot, sticky air was making me feel yukky.  So we headed down the road a couple of minutes to Cullen Bay Marina.  

This place is nice.  We had eaten at the La Beach Fish & Chips and I was disappointed with that because the seafood was good but they gave it to us in the butcher paper.  I would have expected that such a nice looking restaurant that sold beer and was right on the beach would have had plates for the food. 



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Anyway, this time at the Marina we wanted to try out one of the nicer restaurants overlooking the flash boats moored here.  We chose The Phat Joint.  I had pasta and hubby had Asian.  He loves all of the different choices in Darwin in the Asian food department.













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Cullen Bay is also where the ferry leaves for Waigit Beach on the other side of the bay.  If you had to drive to Waigit Beach you would need to go down and around. 



As we have been to Kakadu, we skipped it this time and instead headed to Litchfield National Park for a couple of days.  See my Kakadu page for information on what to see and do in Kakadu.

Next page – Litchfield National Park and Waigit Beach.

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